Election Returns

Photo Galleries

COSTA MESA (CBSLA.com) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney indicated he was taken out of context after a secret video caught him saying that some Americans believe they’re “victims.”

The videos, posted on Mother Jones’ website, show Romney telling a small group of wealthy donors in Florida that he has an uphill fight ahead of him because nearly half of Americans will vote for President Obama in the November election.

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that the government has a responsibility to care for them,” he said in May.

At a news conference in Costa Mesa on Monday, Romney said his comments weren’t “elegantly stated.”

“I’m speaking off-the-cuff in response to a question. I’m sure I could state it more clearly in a more effective way than I did at a setting like that,” he said.

Romney said he hopes the person who shot the video will post the complete material, as the question he was asked and his full response weren’t released.